Class hour in elementary school on the topic: “A running machine” or a familiar bicycle
Stupchenko Irina Nikolaevna, teacher primary classes first category MBOU secondary school No. 19, Krasnodar
Target: acquaintance with the history of the bicycle
Tasks:
- expand children’s knowledge about surrounding objects;
-introduce historical data on the emergence and creation of the first bicycles;
-enrich the child’s experience, saturate this experience with new knowledge and information about the environment;
-work to create a cohesive team of like-minded people, a creative association of children;
Description: this material can be used by primary and secondary school teachers, preschool or additional education on the classroom clock, extracurricular activities, group activities or for thematic conversations.
Form: class hour
Equipment: laptop, presentation, slides, illustrations, poems, coloring books
Progress of the class hour
Teacher. Guys, listen to S. Melnikov’s poem.
Here I am pedaling
And I fly forward like an arrow.
Wow, the spokes sparkle as they spin,
The steering wheel is silver in the sun,
Left a mark on the sand
My fast... (bicycle!)
Introduction to the topic. Discovery of new knowledge.
Teacher. I think you guessed what we will talk about during class. You will learn a lot of new and interesting things from the history of the bicycle.
How was the bicycle invented? When did he appear? Was he the same as he is now? So, everything in order.
In 1817, Baron Karl von Dres, who served as a forester and often traveled large areas on horseback, made a wooden car. It was a structure consisting of two wheels, which were connected by a frame with a saddle and steering wheel.
Such a machine moved by pushing off the ground with its feet. And it was called a “running machine.”
Later, in Scotland, blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan redesigned Drez's machine, namely adding pedals. They had to be pushed with their feet, causing them to rotate rear wheel. But this invention was not convenient.
In 1862, the Frenchman Pierre Lallement came up with the idea of attaching pedals to the front wheel that need to be turned rather than pushed. This invention pleased and interested the industrialists the Olivier brothers. Mass production of the two-wheeled miracle began. The name "bicycle" was coined, which means "fast" and "leg" in French. And the people called the new invention a “bone shaker.”
Later, inventors developed new wheel designs with metal spokes and enlarged the front wheel. Now it reached 160 cm in diameter, and the saddle was located directly above it. This bike was called the “penny farthing” or “spider”.
Bicycle races were held on “spiders”. The first bicycle races took place in 1869 in France.
Eleven years later, bicycle tires appeared. Initially these were watering hoses.
Here is his invention - a “spider” bicycle.
In the 1890s, bicycles gained unprecedented popularity. Models with pedal brakes and a freewheel mechanism began to appear.
Later, inventors came up with a speed switch.
Creative work.
Teacher. And now for some creative work: coloring the bikes.
(On the students’ desks are coloring books with different models of bicycles)
Summary of the class hour.
Teacher. Summing up the lesson, I want to say that our century is the time of the emergence of new models and designs.
Circus, racing, children's, three-wheeled, tourist and many other types, these are all prototypes of Drez's wooden car, invented 200 years ago.
Little did he know that his invention would be so popular and in demand!
Bicycle, bicycle,
There is no more important friend these days!
My two-wheeler is flying,
Like a dashing and formidable horse.
Cars in traffic jams
They mumble about hassles,
And we hurry forward
Where the world sings.
Who invented the first bicycle and in what year? The answer to this question is not so simple. Several people are vying for the title of inventor of the bicycle.
Germany - the birthplace of the bicycle
This happened exactly two hundred years ago. The first contender for the title of inventor of the bicycle was Baron Karl Dres von Sauerbronn (1785-1851) from the Grand Duchy of Baden (Germany). Karl Drèze was a very versatile personality - an aristocrat, a mathematician, a politician and a high-ranking official. However, in 1811, Drèze decided to sacrifice his position as chief forester in order to concentrate on the most important matter - invention. It was he who designed the world's first meat grinder, the world's first typewriter, and also the first "Running Machine" (Laufmaschine). We will tell you more about Laufmaschine! It is believed that 1817 is the year the world's first bicycle appeared.
Photo of the "world's first bicycle" (exact model)
The machine is made entirely of wood. Like a modern bicycle, the Laufmaschine has a saddle, frame, handlebars and steering wheel. However, there are no pedals! We had to drive by pushing off the ground with our feet. For this reason, the “Running Machine” can hardly be called a bicycle in the modern sense of the word. In fact, Drez invented the world's first scooter!
Let's make an important disclaimer! Someone may ask: “Well, what was this wretched invention? What stopped Drez from making pedals, iron spokes, inflatable tires and a chain drive?
The general level of technological development interfered. At that time, there was no technology to create - and launch into mass production! - a bicycle chain or cheap, thin, light and trouble-free metal spokes. Both 200 and 500 years ago, engineers were no more stupid than our contemporaries. They had a rich imagination and could create fantastic drawings (in this regard, Leonardo da Vinci had many worthy rivals). But when it came to practical work, the inventor had a very modest arsenal of technical means at his disposal. That's why progress has been slow.
The baron believed that the scooter-bicycle would be especially useful for postmen, couriers, and also for the military (the Napoleonic wars had just ended). According to Drez, the scooter should have been useful to orderlies on the battlefield and orderlies for transporting the wounded. In addition, the baron believed (and quite rightly!) that the “running machine” would help people improve their health during country walks.
The strange brainchild of Baron Drez was born in pain and sweat. Nothing worked the first time! The first, unsuccessful model had four wheels, like a cart. The inventor wanted to demonstrate it in the capital of Austria during the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815): the most powerful people in Europe gathered in the city at that time. Before their eyes, the baron suffered a shameful failure. Karl Dröz did not take into account the state of Austrian roads! During testing, the multi-wheeled scooter “slipped” in the road rut and could not budge.
However, Drez did not lose heart and made the “running machine” two-wheeled - lighter and more mobile. This happened already in 1817.
Karl Drèze rode along country roads, scaring away superstitious peasants. He developed an unprecedented speed - fifty kilometers in four hours! - and at long distances he could even overtake post horses.
In 1819, the first wooden scooter bicycles came into fashion. The “running machine” became the favorite toy of the European aristocracy.
At this moment, the word “bicycle” (le vélocipède) itself was born, coined by the French. It was made up of two Latin words: velox (velocis), “quick,” and pes (pedis), “leg.” In Russian this word could sound like “fast-footed”.
The “Running Machine” became most popular in England. Local inventor Denis Johnson for short time He made 320 wooden devices and even managed to open two schools for bicycle craftsmen. In the spring of 1819, many gentlemen were already driving Drez's car along the streets of London. The roadway was in such a state that driving there on two wheels was unthinkable (and rubber tires did not exist in those years). The first cyclists found a simple way out of the situation: they raced along the sidewalks, knocking down pedestrians. That is why, at the insistence of surgeons, the bicycle was banned in London in the summer of that year.
The first “bicycle boom” lasted only a few months, bringing Karl Drèze neither money nor lasting fame. The baron lived until 1851, was ruined and died penniless. However, at the end of his life, based on his scooter-bicycle, he managed to invent another, more practically useful machine. This invention is a railway handcar, named after Karl Dres.
The Baron of Baden was ahead of his time. We had to wait almost half a century for the appearance of real bicycles. They were invented in Paris in the 60s of the XIX century.
France - the birthplace of the bicycle
In 1862, the half-forgotten “running machine” was seen by a young artisan from the city of Nancy, Pierre Lallement (1843-1891). Lalman was then working in the production of baby carriages and understood something about wheeled transport. The young man had a revolutionary idea: what if pedals were attached to the wheel of a running machine?!
The following year, Lallement moved to Paris and began collaborating with three wealthy students - the brothers Aimé, René and Marius Olivier. The brothers had something that a young worker could not have - starting capital!
However, quite soon Lalmant quarreled with all the Oliviers and emigrated to the USA, where in 1866 he took out a patent for his invention. However, his bike did not go into production.
Meanwhile, in Paris, the Olivier brothers found another companion, Pierre Michaud (1813-1883). Michaud developed Lalman's ideas. In 1868, the comrades organized the company Michaux et Cie. They quickly managed to establish large-scale production of bicycles.
The frame of Michaud's bicycles was iron, but the wheels were still wooden, with metal tires.
The new vehicle caused a sensation. In 1868-1869, Europe was swept by “bicycle mania.” Since April 1, 1869, a special cycling magazine was even published in Paris - Le Vélocipède Illustré.
On November 7, 1869, the first intercity races took place (Paris-Rouen). The victory was won by the Englishman James Moore, who traveled 123 kilometers in 10 hours 45 minutes - slower than a steam locomotive, but faster than a horse. The lucky winner received a prize bicycle and a thousand francs in gold.
True, cycling fashion on the continent very soon faded away. Forged tires on wooden wheels caused a lot of inconvenience. The first bicycles earned an offensive and fair nickname - “bone shakers”. We also remember that the pedals were attached directly to the axle of the front wheel, and we had to ride in a very uncomfortable position.
The public soon lost interest in the “bone shakers”. In only one country did the bicycle retain some popularity after 1870. This is England!
England is the third birthplace of the bicycle
In 1868, French mechanic Eugene Meillet invented the wheel with metal spokes. In the short term, this made it possible to make the wheel reliable, light and large. Soon, the English inventor and businessman James Starley (1830-1881) came up with an original idea: to enlarge the front wheel and place the saddle directly above it. This allowed the cyclist to ride with an upright posture. Due to the size of the wheel, it was possible to increase the speed.
In 1870, Starley - who was later called the "father of the bicycle industry" - made a new type of bicycle - the "penny farthing" (the name came from two unequal English coins - small and large). Outside of Foggy Albion, such a scary design began to be called differently: “spider bike.”
The height of the large front wheel exceeded one and a half meters. The “spider bike” lost its balance very easily. It was scary to fall from it.
To make travel safe, the British came up with tricycles: ladies rode them most often. However, the gentlemen were not overly cautious. There were also the most exotic options: for example, double family bicycles with four wheels and two saddles.
All this is still very different from today's bicycle, isn't it?
The “social context” of the bicycle was also different: it turned out to be more of a luxury than a means of transportation. Bicycles were mainly used by wealthy people for outdoor activities.
In 1879, the Englishman Harry John Lawson (1852-1925) made a major invention - the chain drive. This made it possible to place the pedals between the wheels, “untying” them from the wheel axle.
In 1885, English inventor and businessman John Kemp Starley (nephew of James Starley) created a “safety bicycle” with two wheels of equal height. Starley called this model the Rover or “Wanderer” and put it into mass production. Since then, the word rover has come to mean “bicycle” in several languages. The awkward penny farthings were forgotten. Later, on the wave of success, Rover switched to car production and existed in a new role until the beginning of the 21st century.
A Rover bicycle at the end of the 19th century was almost no different in appearance from a modern one.
Rubber tires are already present. True, there are still no brakes, but this invention is not far off.
So, when was the world's first bicycle created? There is no simple answer to this question. The bicycle in its current form was created by various inventors over seven decades.
The legendary birthplace of the bicycle
As with other inventions, the history of the bicycle was not without its share of hoaxes. Many wanted to prove the priority of their country or their family. Sometimes these versions are accepted uncritically.
The first drawing of a bicycle (it turned out to be a fake) is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
In revolutionary France
The achievements of Lallement and Michaud were not enough for the French: they wanted the very first bicycle in the world to also be French. The oldest pedalless scooter-bicycle was allegedly developed by the Comte de Siverak in 1791. However, this scooter was a fiction. The Count de Siverak himself turned out to be a fiction.
In Scotland
In 1839, rural blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan from Scotland allegedly invented the very first bicycle with pedals - a quarter of a century before the French. This was reported already at the end of the 19th century by a fellow countryman and relative of Kickpatrick. The Scots and English believed him...
Most likely, this is also a fiction. There is no documentation definitively confirming the existence of Kirkpatrick's bicycle. His images are modifications of bicycles actually created three decades later, in 1869.
In Russia
In 1896, a Ural local historian wrote a book. In one paragraph, the local historian mentioned an unexpected event! Inventor oldest bicycle a serf peasant, a master of the Tagil plant Artamonov, found himself in the world. Artamonov demonstrated his creation in 1801 during the coronation of Paul I. The local history writer forgot that Paul I did not receive the crown in 1801, but lost it (along with his life).
A quarter of a century later, a preserved “Artamonov’s bicycle” was already shown in the local museum. The Nizhny Tagil serf was so skilled that 70 years before the British he was able to create a real English spider bike
.
Under Stalin, during the “struggle against cosmopolitanism,” the Tagil nugget gained universal fame. An article about Artamonov was included in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. The name, society and dates of life of the brilliant inventor became known. Years passed: more and more details appeared in the biography of Efim Artamonov. He became the inventor of not only the first bicycle, but also the first car, and then joined the ranks of victims of the “tsarist regime.”
In the 80s of the 20th century, not only local historians, but also historians began to be interested in Artamonov’s personality. Historians have found out: there are no documents about Efim Artamonov in the archives. The entire biography of the inventor turned out to be a fiction - from beginning to end. The Tagil master could not invent anything, since he did not exist in the world.
On the subject of reinventing the wheel different countries They try to assign this merit to themselves. Many sources reflect a variety of versions, each of which, in principle, has the right to exist.
But among this number of theories, two are still most consistent with the truth.
Blacksmith Efim Artamonov
According to one version, the first bicycle - more precisely, a “two-wheeled cart” - appeared in Russia in 1801 thanks to the blacksmith Artamonov. Artamonov was not given a patent, although he rode about five thousand kilometers on his bicycle. The two-wheeled cart was quickly forgotten, so the generally accepted version remains the authorship of the German baron Karl von Dres.
The story of Efim Artamonov is fascinating: it is believed that this serf came to St. Petersburg in 1801 for the coronation of the emperor on an invented bicycle, and allegedly received freedom for himself and his family for such an innovative design. The bicycle was placed in a museum in Nizhny Tagil. 
However, there is no written evidence, no documentary evidence that this story is not fiction. As, in fact, there are no documents confirming that the blacksmith Artamonov existed at all.
Von Drez
The design assembled by von Dres in 1814 was called a “walking machine.” It looked like two wheel scooter made of wood, without pedals, with saddle and steering wheel. To put the structure into action, you had to push off with your feet from the ground. Baron von Drez received a patent for the invention in 1818. It was the name of the inventor that formed the basis of the term “trolley”.
Baron von Dres served in the forestry department, whose leadership, long before receiving the patent, immediately after the demonstration of the bicycle in the city of Karlsruhe, turned out to be extremely dissatisfied with the “stupid” ingenuity of the employee. The Baron was threatened with being placed under medical supervision. But in 1816, when snow suddenly and repeatedly fell in the middle of summer, the harvest disappeared, and people were forced to slaughter cattle and horses, which had nothing to feed.
Since there was nothing else to drive, von Dres's wooden car gained serious popularity. The prince also liked the scooter, who asked the King of Bavaria to reward von Dres. Later, Drez created a meat grinder, a typewriter and that very cart, which is called a trolley. 
It is noteworthy that von Dres was eventually accused of being crazy, because a normal person would not come up with “obscure things.” The inventor was placed under house arrest, his property was distributed among different hands, and in 1850 von Dres died in complete oblivion and extreme poverty.
From simplicity to perfection
A few decades later, in 1840, the Scotsman Kirkpatrick Macmillan improved the design invented by Drez by adding pedals. But MacMillan's work did not gain widespread popularity. It was only in 1853 that Pierre Michaud patented the pedal drive and also equipped the bicycle with a brake and a saddle with a spring. Such bicycles received the caustic name “bone shakers”.
Despite such a telling characteristic, races were even held on bone shakers, such as the race in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Cloud in 1868. Since 1867, bicycles have had wheels with spokes. This wheel design was proposed by a certain Cowper. In 1868, Meyer & Co. began producing bicycles with a chain.
For a decade and a half, until 1885, spider bicycles with a huge front wheel and a small rear wheel were very popular. Large diameter of the front wheel to which the pedals were attached. Provided high speed movement - up to 30 kilometers per hour.
The disadvantage of this bicycle was poor stability - the design would tip over at the slightest unevenness in the road. Another stage in the history of the bicycle - chain drive with gears of different diameters. The model was called “kangaroo”. 
The Scotsman John Dunlop equipped the bicycle with a pneumatic tire: he simply put a rubber hose on the wheel and filled it with water, and later came up with the idea of filling the hose with air and closing the hole with a special valve. Over time, bicycles were constantly improved, becoming lighter, more maneuverable, and more comfortable.
Today we can choose a variety of options - women's and men's models, road and mountain, with and without gear shifting. Tandem bicycles and tricycles, children's bicycles and complex structures designed for several people are all relatively affordable and give people great pleasure.
In the invention of this popular vehicle More than one person took part. The bicycle has grown thanks to a number of inventions, which can be traced from our time to the 18th century. Some researchers claim that the drawings of the vehicle (which has two wheels) and the roller chain belong to Leonardo da Vinci.
The history of the creation of a bicycle has a long path of development. Moreover, its analogues appeared first. Count De Sivrac in France built a two-wheeled car made of wood in 1791, called the “Selarifer”. You can move on it while sitting astride and push off the ground with your feet.
German inventor Karl Draize created the first scooter called a “walking machine” in 1817. The design was equipped with a steering wheel and a saddle, and was named after its creator - a trolley. And to this day this word is used in the Russian language. In 1818, this invention was patented. Already in 1839-40 it was improved. Kirk Patrick McMillan, a blacksmith from Scotland, attaches pedals to it. Thus, metal rods attached the rear wheel to the pedal, which pushed it. The bicycle was controlled by a person who was located between the front and rear wheels. He controlled the device using a steering wheel, which was attached to the front wheel.
A few years later, the English engineer Tumpson received a patent for inflatable bicycle tires. But due to their technical imperfections, they did not become widespread at that time. It was only in 1867 that bicycles with pedals began to be mass produced.
The invention received the name “bicycle” thanks to Pierre Michaud. In the 70s of the 19th century, “penny-farthing” bicycles, so named because of the proportionality of the wheels (a penny coin is smaller than a farthing coin), gained popularity. The pedals were attached to a large front wheel, and on top of them was a saddle. Due to the shift in the center of gravity, the bicycle was considered a dangerous means of transportation. An alternative to the penny-farthing was three-wheeled scooters, which quickly gained popularity.
The next stage in the history of bicycle creation was the appearance of a metal wheel with spokes inside. This was proposed by the inventor Eduard Cowper in 1867. And two years later a frame appeared on bicycles. Further, the Englishman Lawson managed to invent a chain drive in the late 70s.
The first, similar to modern ones, was the Rover bicycle - “Wanderer”. It was made in 1884 by Englishman John Kemp Starley. Within a year these bicycles were in mass production. The Rover had a chain drive, the wheels were the same size, and the driver's position was in the center, between the front wheel and the rear. The bicycle won many fans in Europe. Unlike its predecessors, it was safe and convenient. The subsequently created Rover concern, having established the production of bicycles, began to produce cars. But after existing only until 2005, the company went bankrupt.
Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop designed rubber tires in 1888, which became quite widespread. They were more advanced and reliable than the patented rubber ones. If before this they said about bicycles that they were “bone shakers,” now the ride with rubber wheels has become softer.
The nineties of the 19th century were called the golden age of bicycles. Soon pedal brakes appeared, as well as a freewheel mechanism, thanks to which there was no need to constantly pedal. A little later, the handbrake was invented, however, it began to be used much later.
The year 1878 marked the appearance of the first folding bicycle. And in the 90s they made the first aluminum devices. In 1895, the first recumbent was invented - this is a bicycle that you could ride reclining or even lying down. Nine years later, the Peugeot concern began mass production of recambents.
Bicycles with rear and front suspension began to be produced in 1915, especially for the Italian army. The next decade saw the introduction of ball bearings, two- and three-speed hubs, assembly line assembly methods, chain drive derailleurs, steel tubing and the foot brake.
The gear shift mechanisms invented earlier (early 20th century) turned out to be not so perfect. The rear wheel of the bicycle was equipped with two special sprockets on both sides, and in order to change gears it was necessary to stop to remove the wheel and then turn it over. The chain had to be tensioned and secured.
Invented in 1903, the planetary mechanism used to change gears gained popularity only in the 30s of the 20th century. In 1950, Italian cyclist Tullio Campagnolo, who later became a bicycle manufacturer, invented a mechanism similar to today's derailleur.
In 1974, titanium bicycle models appeared, and a year later, carbon fiber models. Already in 1983, a cycling computer was invented, the functions of which included tracking speed, time and load.
It cannot be said that the popularity of bicycles in the 20th century was constantly stable. At the beginning of the century, the automotive industry began to develop, cars became more accessible, as a result of which bicycles lost their popularity. Once again, the fashion for bicycles came along with propaganda healthy image life. Today they are most popular among residents of European countries. Denmark is considered the most cycling country. A resident of this country drives it 893 km per year. After Denmark comes the Netherlands (853 km). The average resident of Belgium and Germany cycles approximately 300 kilometers per year. Lowest popularity in Southern European countries. The average Spaniard cycles about 20 km per year.
We must pay tribute to the government’s policy, as a result of which the popularity of this type of transport helps improve people’s health and relieve the central streets of cars from congestion. In many Asian countries, the bicycle is considered almost the main means of transportation due to its cheapness. However, even there (take China and India) the use of bicycles began to decline. City residents began to switch to mopeds, motorcycles, and cars. Sometimes, in order for bicycle transport not to interfere with the movement of cars, authorities are forced to take action against it. For example, in Shanghai, in December 2003, cyclists were temporarily banned.
China is considered the main manufacturer of bicycles, since the production of most bicycle companies is located in this country. About 95% of bicycles are made in China.
The history of the bicycle is not only the history of technical progress, but also of social progress. It was on a bicycle that humanity entered the 20th century with its equality of genders and classes.
For women, cycling became the first accessible sport and leisure activity in the open air, which also allowed it to be carried out jointly and equally with men.
Photo: gettyimages.ruIN In 1898, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov published the story “The Man in a Case,” which was included in the golden fund of Russian literature. The key conflict of the story occurs when the retrograde character sees his fiancée and her brother on bicycles.
“If a teacher rides a bicycle, then what remains for the students? All they can do is walk on their heads! And since this is not allowed circularly, then it is impossible. I was horrified yesterday! When I saw your sister, my vision went blank. A woman or girl on a bicycle is terrible!”
The modern reader perceives this story as a manifestation of Belikov’s bias - “no matter what happens.” However, the context of this story is completely different - Chekhov wrote about how the modern way of life comes to the Russian outback. The conflict is not invented, but taken from the writer’s contemporary everyday life. The founder of the US Food and Drug Administration, Harvey Wiley, wrote in his autobiography in 1930 about how he, a young professor at Purdue University, was scolded by Chancellor Emerson White at the board of trustees in 1880: “We are deeply saddened by his behavior... The hardest thing is the violation has just become known to us. Professor Wiley bought a bicycle. Imagine my feelings and the feelings of the other trustees when they saw our professor dressed like a monkey and riding on wheels through our streets.”
To understand why Belikov and White, on opposite sides of the world, swear at cyclists in identical terms, you need to understand what the bicycle was for the late Victorian era.
Before the bike
A bicycle of the usual design consists of a frame, two wheels on bearings, a flexible fork and a chain drive from the pedals to the rear wheel. The seemingly self-evident design arose, however, only at the end of the 19th century.
A bicycle of the usual design consists of a frame, two wheels on bearings, a flexible fork and a chain drive from the pedals to the rear wheel. The seemingly self-evident design arose, however, only at the end of the 19th century
The oldest element of a bicycle is the bearing. Sliding and rolling bearings were discovered during excavations of Roman “ships of Lake Nemi” dating back to the 40s AD. e. The ships were discovered at a depth of over twenty meters back in the 19th century, but were out of reach for a long time. In the 1920s, at the initiative of dictator Benito Mussolini, expensive and public excavations were organized to drain Lake Nemi. As a result, the remains of two bearings were found on the raised ships: one was a ball bearing, the other was a roller bearing. Unfortunately, in 1944, the ship museum was destroyed by the Nazis retreating from Italy, and it is impossible to judge whether the bearings were a propaganda myth of the Mussolini era or really existed - only a fund of black and white photographs remained in the Museum of the History of Science and Technology of Milan. Modern science is inclined to think that “Nemi bearings” are not a hoax after all.
Bearings then disappear until the Renaissance. Drawings of the bearing appear in Leonardo da Vinci's 1497 documents, then in a treatise Le diverse et artificiose machine Captain Agostino Ramelli 1588. The first real rolling bearing appeared in John Harrison's chronometers in 1759, but it was not until 1794 that Welsh mechanic Philip Vaughn patented the modern type of ring-frame bearing.
The chain drive is somewhat younger. The ancient world knew gears, as can be seen from the “Antikythera mechanism” (100 BC). The use of chains to transmit power is mentioned by Polybius (3rd century AD). But the first endless chain transmission from gear to gear was probably invented by the Chinese polymath Su Song. A drawing of a “heavenly staircase” is found in a 1092 treatise by Su Song describing a complex mechanical tower astronomical clock. Judging by the picture, this is not a classic chain made of riveted oval rings at an angle of 90 degrees, but something more similar to modern bicycle chains with roller elements. Su Song's watch has not reached our time and probably existed only in drawings. In Europe, chain drives made from rollers, capable of transmitting torque from gear to gear, were first drawn by the same Leonardo da Vinci, but working mechanisms became known only from the Industrial Revolution.
Photo: gettyimages.ru
The reason for this lag is likely twofold. First, both the chain and bearing require metalworking techniques that produce tolerances that are smaller than those that can be achieved by hand machining. Secondly, the chain is needed where there is serious and constant force, that is, the engine. Horse and foot drives can do without chains and bearings, and it was the machine age that stimulated the creation of more efficient drives, which then made their way back to foot-powered vehicles.
The first "bicycle"
The name "bicycle" is French, a translation from German laufmaschine- “running machine”. This is how the young aristocrat Karl von Drese named his two-wheeled car for the French market, patented in 1817 and better known at that time as a “trolley.”
The trolley was a bicycle scooter - a two-wheeled machine with wooden frame and metal wheels, on which you had to sit astride and ride, pushing off alternately with your legs, as when running. The handcar already had a steering fork, although not an axial one. On the rear wheel there was a foot brake pedal, similar to those found on modern scooters. The car required metal-lined shoes; ordinary shoes would very quickly become unusable from such driving. This machine has been preserved and is now on display at the Technical Museum in Munich.
Before the 1817 patent, von Drese had already been experimenting with two-wheeled cars for several years. The first “cyclist” was the Russian Tsar Alexander I, who at the end of 1813, during negotiations on the reorganization of Europe liberated from Napoleon, visited his mother-in-law Countess Amalia, widow of the Duke of Baden (Drese’s father was the supreme judge of the Duchy of Baden). After a ride in the car, the king exclaimed in French: “Excellent idea!” - and presented the inventor with a diamond ring. As subsequent history showed, the king was not mistaken.
On June 12, 1817, Karl von Drese publicly rode a “running machine” from his native Mannheim to the suburb of Rheinau, reaching a speed of 13–15 kilometers per hour. The route ran along one of the best paved roads in Europe at that time. The German press widely covered this event, and after a few years, almost all the rulers and rich people of Germany and Austria acquired handcars. The invention was immediately copied and improved in France and England.
Photo: gettyimages.ru
In England, the “bicycle” became known as the “dandy horse” due to its popularity among fashionable youth, or “children’s horse” - which quite accurately reflected von Drese’s idea. From an ergonomic point of view, the trolley was the mechanical equivalent, if not of a horse, then more likely of a pony or donkey. The man sat on it as if it were a riding animal. According to one version, the global annual cooling in 1816 (“the year without summer”) due to the catastrophic eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 spurred interest in von Drese’s machine precisely because it was seen as a mechanical replacement for riding cattle, which was not afraid of starvation.
The technical career of Drese, who in 1821 also began developing the first typewriter, was interrupted by politics. Although the monarchs of Europe loved Drese, he himself was a radical republican. In 1820, Drese the Father, as judge of Baden, sentenced to death the student Sand, who killed the conservative publicist Kotzebue. The execution caused outrage among radicals throughout Europe, and Dreze Jr., who was persecuted from all sides, fled to Brazil. When he returned to his homeland in the late 1820s, the fashion for the handcar had passed. Two-wheeled vehicles and their derivatives were manufactured and sold, but in much smaller quantities.
Dreze continued to work, also creating a railway cart - the same one that in our time is known as a “trolley”. The technical genius, however, did not bring Drese either money or fame - the radicals continued to hunt for the “son of a villain,” and the aristocracy treated the renegade democrat poorly. In 1848, during the revolutions in Europe, Drese publicly renounced his title and began to be called “Citizen Karl Drese.” After the suppression of the revolutionary movement, he was persecuted, declared mentally ill and died in poverty - interestingly, across the house from the house of the widow Josephine Benz and her seven-year-old son Karl, the future creator of the first car in history.
The handcar already had a steering fork, although not an axial one. On the rear wheel there was a foot brake pedal, similar to those found on modern scooters. The car required metal-lined shoes
Boneshakers
The next qualitative leap was the replacement of the drive from a foot drive to a pedal drive. Initially, they tried to put pedals on trolley-type “bicycles” controlled by the vertical movement of the foot - like sewing machines or hand spinning wheels. The scheme was ineffective, and the real breakthrough came when in 1863, in the Paris carriage workshop of father and son Pierre and Ernest Michaud, a crank with two pedals was installed on the front wheel of the “bicycle.” It's the same design as kids' bikes these days. It is unknown who was the author of this breakthrough, since it was at this time that engineer Pierre Lamellin worked for Michaud, who, after his dismissal, went to the USA and patented an improved version of Michaud's bicycle there. According to some reports, the idea belonged to him, and not to the owners of the workshop.
But it was the bicycles of the new company Micheaux et Cie, created by Micheaux and wealthy heirs, brothers Aimé and Rene Olivier, that went into mass production. Around 1867, Aimé Olivier added a second key innovation to Michaud's design. According to the tradition coming from Dreze, the bicycle frame had a crossbar on top (like a horse's back). Olivier replaced the frame with a diagonal crossbar - the lower end is at the level of the wheel axles, the upper end is at the level of the steering wheel support. The saddle was placed on a separate support. This made it possible to make the bicycle much lighter and to manufacture it industrially - by stamping or from pipes. The triangular frame of the modern bicycle harkens back to Olivier's intellectual break with the equine heritage in favor of new man-machine ergonomics.
Bike ride. Paris, 1818
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Michaud's model caused a short-term bicycle boom in Paris - this was the first and so far local rise in the popularity of two-wheeled cars. Paris was in the midst of “Haussmanization”: the prefect of the capital district, Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann, by order of Emperor Napoleon III, demolished old Paris and built in its place a modern progressive city - the Paris we know. During the reconstruction in Paris, streets and boulevards began to appear with a hard and, at that time, unsurpassedly smooth surface made of macadam - gravel with a binder filler. Conditions for cycling were very good. Riding bicycles through the streets of Paris has become a popular pastime. The number of road incidents has also increased massively - cyclists collided with pedestrians, and heavy all-metal wheels caused injuries to pedestrians. The enthusiasm of cyclists was also tempered by strong vibrations of the entire structure, which made it simply difficult to ride for a long time. Michaud's bicycle received the unofficial nickname "bone shaker".
The bicycle boom was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, which ended in defeat and heavy reparations for France. In other countries the boom was smaller, partly because the roads were less well-prepared and partly because the boneshakers were quickly overtaken by the next generation of bicycles.
Penny farthings
In 1869, Eugene Meillet invents and patents the tension-spoke wheel. The spokes made it possible to reduce the weight of the wheel and at the same time improve its balance. Meillet initially came up with a lightweight wheel for a new model of bicycle, which he introduced in the same 1869. It was a bicycle with a very large front wheel and a small rear wheel. In the history of cycling, the nickname “penny farthing” stuck to it, after the name of two English coins different sizes. On the Continent, this type of bicycle was sometimes called a "granby" or a "kangaroo", but all these nicknames arose in the twilight of the short era of the penny-farthing. In the 1880s it was simply called a "bicycle".
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The penny farthing became one of the symbols of the late 19th century and the era called Victorian, named after the English Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901. The bicycle, which made it possible to easily accelerate to 25 kilometers per hour, became a favorite of students, fashionable youth and middle and upper class men, regardless of age. The penny-farthing was given such capabilities by a light and very large drive wheel, which was easy to spin and had a large circumference.
Penny farthings were only suitable for men. It was possible to sit on a bicycle only with your legs stretched out strongly on both sides of the wheel, and you had to sit on it from behind, climbing onto a special step. This could only be done in trousers. Very soon, tricycle models for women appeared, where there was not one large wheel, but two - between them it was possible to sit closer to ground level and half-sitting. For the first time on women's bicycles, a chain drive appears from the pedals located below to the axle behind the cyclist's back. It is not known exactly who invented the chain drive. Perhaps, back in 1868, masters Eugene Meillet and Andre Guilmet transferred the “bone shaker” drive from the front wheel to the rear using the familiar “bicycle chain” of rollers, but the fact that this model is not a later fake is still in doubt. And in the models of the 1880s there are already a lot of them. Thus, the requirements of Victorian decency directly influenced scientific and technological changes.
Following women's bicycles, tandem bicycles appeared for paired rides, where the man sat behind the woman. This variety of models led to the fact that in the middle and upper classes of Europe a culture of collective cycling trips outside the city began to emerge, which was already perceived as a subversion of the foundations: men and women together, and even spinning wheels. But the real revolution in the morals of Victorian society by means of mechanical transport occurred ten years later, in the 1890s.
A real breakthrough occurred when in 1863, in the Parisian carriage workshop of father and son Pierre and Ernest Michaud, a crank with two pedals was installed on the front wheel of the “bicycle”. It's the same design as kids' bikes these days.
The “penny farthings” had one serious drawback - the risk of injury. They heeled heavily when turning and often overturned. This happened both when colliding with an obstacle and during sharp braking - the rear wheels were small and useless, and the only brake of the same spoon type was on the steering wheel and fixed the front wheel on top. A jerk forward a little more than necessary, and the rider flew head over heels over the steering wheel, getting his feet tangled in it.
“This time the instructor stood in front and ordered us to push the car from behind. We set off from the bridge much faster, immediately ran over a brick, I flew over the handlebars, fell head down, onto the instructor’s back, and saw that the bike was fluttering in the air, blocking the sun from me. It’s good that he fell on us: it softened the blow and he remained intact.
Five days later I got up and was taken to the hospital to see the instructor; It turned out that he was already recovering. Less than a week later I was completely healthy. This is because I was always careful and jumped on something soft. Some people recommend a feather bed, but in my opinion, an instructor is more comfortable.”
Mark Twain's 1886 short story "The Taming of the Bicycle" from which this passage is taken is based on a true story.
Broken arms and bruised heads among penny-farthing enthusiasts were the order of the day, and although few were deterred, mechanical manufacturers continued to think of new, safer solutions.
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Safe bike
Created in 1885, the model received exactly this name - “safety bicycle”. British mechanic John Starley went back to the "boneshaker" design with two identical wheels, but made changes to the frame and drive. Front wheel received a straight fork with a brake, the saddle was mounted on a vertical post, the diagonal frame was reduced to a crossbar between the wheels, and the rear wheel was mounted in its own fork. The wheel was driven by a chain drive. The pedals were attached to the vertical central post of the frame at the bottom and the saddle at the top. The first “safe” model, called Rover (English: “wanderer”), looks almost the same as a modern bicycle, and, in fact, it is - and bicycles under this brand are still produced.
There were only two parts left to a fully modern bicycle: pneumatic tires instead of welded ones and a hand brake. Pneumatic tires appeared just two years later - they were invented by John Dunlop. In the early 1890s, they were still a premium product and cost some money, but by the beginning of the 20th century, new bicycles were already standardly equipped with pneumatic tires. The “bone shakers” were over.
And since the “spoon” type brake on pneumatic tires worked poorly and wore out valuable rubber, already in 1897 Abram Duck from Chicago patented a pliers-type brake that brakes not the tire, but the rim; We still use this brake today.
Worldwide cycling boom
The “safe bicycle,” easy to manufacture, easy to use, with excellent maneuverability and accessible even to inexperienced riders, has become popular all over the world in a matter of years. In just a decade, older bicycles were discontinued. Country roads were filled with hundreds of cyclists on weekends.
The front wheel received a straight fork with a brake, the saddle was mounted on a vertical post, the diagonal frame was reduced to a crossbar between the wheels, and the rear wheel was mounted in its own fork. The wheel was driven by a chain drive
For women, cycling became the first accessible sport and leisure activity in the open air, which also allowed it to be carried out jointly and equally with men. This was very quickly understood by early feminists, who began to promote the bicycle as a means of emancipation for women, which it essentially was. Not only joint bike rides, but also women-only rides were bold moves.
This did not improve the reputation of either female cyclists or male cyclists. But at least in the 1880s, women wore skirts. The “Safe Bike” changed the situation: it was possible to make a women’s frame, but even the guards often did not prevent the hem from getting caught in the gear. And the result was a women's cycling suit, the key element of which was wide knee-length trousers that turned into tight trousers. On top was either a traditional blouse or a hunting-style jacket.
This compromise between dress and pants could not fool anyone. In the Victorian world, for many decades it was believed that only men were capable of self-control, and women were emotional creatures, did not control themselves and dreamed only of, figuratively speaking, throwing themselves on a man’s neck. Strict dress was supposed to keep this genie of sexuality within bounds, and in the most prim situations, even mentioning a chicken leg at the table was considered obscene. For the Victorian world, legs covered in fabric were an act of sexual audacity that exceeded any cleavage of the 18th century. In a word, bicycle chain strengthened shaky morals in order to immediately overturn them into the abyss.
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In 1892, the main worldwide hit from Australia to Norway and from the USA to India was the song “Daisy Bell, or a Bicycle for Two,” which became the most circulated sound recording in the world. new technology"gramophone records." The hero of the song told how, despite his poverty, he was ready to take a girl on a tandem bicycle to bright places if she agreed to marry him. The success of the song was facilitated by the fact that the heroine resembled one of the main celebrities of the Fin de siècle era, Countess Daisy Grenville (the future “Red Countess” socialist). And in the singer carrying her on a bicycle, accordingly, her lover is the heir to the throne of the British Empire, Edward. The power of the bicycle equalized everyone: the prince, like a simple middle-class guy, pedaled in the same way behind a proud girl holding a common steering wheel.
In the library of the New Zealand city of Christchurch, which at that time was a small semi-rural town on the farthest edge of the ecumene, further only to Antarctica, there is a set of photographs “Atalanta Women's Cycling Club”. Atalanta - an ancient huntress equal in strength the best men and did not want to get married. A dozen women pose for the camera - and all have "safety bikes." The photo is dated 1892. Other photos show the girls on a walk, but with them are several men - their brothers. It was unsafe for Atalanta to travel alone; the men they met reacted extremely harshly to single women. In 1895, girls already traveled freely alone - men were used to it. In other European countries, much the same thing happened - the starting point was very reminiscent of modern Saudi Arabia, after ten years a flock of women in pants was already the order of the day. Punch magazine joked in 1895 about a girl who wore a bicycle suit without owning a bicycle: her goal to look both modern and attractive was obvious.
Chekhov's Belikov is indignant in exactly the same way as the New Zealand men, and almost simultaneously with them:
Is it proper for high school teachers and women to ride bicycles?
What's indecent here? - I said. - And let them ride to their health.
How is it possible? - he shouted, amazed at my calmness. - What are you saying?!
It turned out it was possible. Probably, Chekhov himself forced Belikov to die, because otherwise the “man in the case” would have had to leave the case - the 20th century of bicycles was coming, and there was no choice left.
